


Coming Clean

by JetGirl1832



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil
Genre: 1990's, Drug Addiction, F/M, Heroin, Modern AU, Multi, New York, New York University, Recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-03-15 06:44:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3437399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eponine has not had an easily and has struggled with trying to make it on her own, was in foster care most of her child and became addicted to heroin when she was eighteen. Now she is twenty and she would like the change her life around.</p><p>Revised from the original on fanfiction.net</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Turn Your Life Around

The morning after was always the worst, coming down from a high was the absolute worst… Eponine rolled over in her bed and groaned, clearly this is why one gets addicted to drugs she reasoned, so that you never have to feel like coming back down. This was something that she had dedicated some thought to over the past few months after her multiple failed attempts to get clean. Each time she relapsed she hated herself more and more and no longer felt strong and independent but weak minded with no self control. It was not a good feeling.

Eponine glanced at the clock with the little red numbers sitting in her window sill and sighed, she had very little time to get ready, after all she had promised to meet Marius in that awkwardly long break he had between classes on Tuesdays. Sitting up she ran a hand through her messy brown hair, stretching a little bit she got up and went to take a shower. She had to make herself at least somewhat presentable before going out on New York’s cold and wintry streets.

The pipes groaned and hissed as the hot water passed through them, well at least they weren’t frozen solid, there was no way she could afford to have that repaired if they burst. She stripped off her clothing and got in quickly before she started shivering. This was not a place for taking long and luxurious showers, it was a surprise if she stayed in for five minutes… Needless to say, it wasn’t pleasant. After getting out and wrapping a thin and threadbare towel around herself she quickly returned to her room and and started getting dressed, no need for uneccessary exposure to the cold of her apartment that was lacking in heat she thought to herself as she pulled on blue long sleeved shirt followed by an NYU zip up sweater she had "borrowed" from Marius. When she was done Eponine flopped back down the bed and she felt a little twinge… Dammit, this was a feeling that she knew all too well. She really could use a hit right about now, and it’s not that she didn’t have any lying about, but she had promised Marius… If she showed up high she was sure that he would know right away and she couldn’t do that to him, could she? Well, she had used last night as well, and while she’d tried getting clean a couple of times it never took for her long to relapse. Eponine bit at her lower lip, the urge was getting stronger, but she had to fight it, she had to try and-Fuck it. 

Like clockwork she prepared the needle, rolled up her sleeve and tied the rubber hose around her arm. The whole process had long since become a routine, there was a reason she didn’t really have any usable spoons in her apartment, not that she frequently had anything to eat that required spoons. But that was beside the point. To Eponine using heroin was as much of her daily life as eating breakfast, except she was more likely to take a hit than to remember to eat. Clearly, today was going to be one of those days. After tying a red headband through her hair and applying her cinnamon red lipstick she felt the high starting to take affect as she left her apartment in the East Village and made her way to the NYU campus, god the things she did for that boy. Admittedly the fifteen minute walk wasn’t bad and it was probably one of the few good things that she did for herself, otherwise she might hide away in her flat until she had to leave for work. 

Eponine walked in a daze all the way to the campus and stood there between Washington Square Park and the Library, maybe in another life she would have been able to go to school there… But that was in another life, last time she checked she only had one. Grumbling she crossed the street and headed towards her designated meeting spot with Marius.

“‘Ponine, over here!”

Eponine turned to see not just Marius, but a few other young man were near him too, well at least it appeared he seemed to have friends. “Hey,” Eponine waved although her motion was far from excited.

“This is my friend and neighbor Eponine Thenardier,” Marius introduced her, Eponine let out a small smile as he did so, “These are some friends of mine here, Tony Courfeyrac, Alex Enjolras and Luc Combeferre.”

“Nice to meet you,” Eponine did what was proper and held out her hand to them in greeting, Tony went for it first and kissed the back of her hand, “mamselle.”

“Oh please,” Alex rolled his eyes, “Tony you aren’t fooling anyone.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t be charming,” Tony shrugged, “besides it’s not like you are bound to be particularly friendly.”

Enjolras shook his head, “Alex Enjolras, please just call me Enjolras and don’t listen to anything that this one says,” he gave a sharp look in Courfeyrac’s direction.

“I’m Luc Combeferre,” the last one introduced himself to her and adjusted the glasses, “and it is nice to meet you Miss. Thenardier-”

“Oh please don’t call me that,” Eponine laughed, “I’m not one for formalities, a simple Eponine is fine… So what is this gathering that it seems I have interrupted?” 

“Actually you are just the person we wanted to see,” Marius smiled at her, it caused butterflies to stir in her stomach.

“Really?” Eponine cocked her head, “why is that?”she asked.

“You work at bar don’t you?” Marius asked.

“Yeeaaah…” Eponine narrowed her gaze still confused as to what he was getting at.

“We have a group that needs a place for our meetings,” Enjolras cut in and started to explain.

“What, not enough places on campus?” Eponine asked, perhaps a little too sharply.

The one called Enjolras seemed to have taken an offense to her slight jab but before he could say anything Combeferre took over, “We are trying to reach out to more than just the student body,” he explained, “we figured by meeting off campus we might be able to achieve that.”

“Uh huh,” Eponine nodded her head, “still don’t see what you expect me to do about that, I just mix the drinks-”

“Do you think they would allow us to meet at your bar?” Combeferre asked.

Eponine shrugged, “Whatever, just don’t break too many laws and you should be fine,” seriously what did they expect from her?

“You are working tonight?” Marius asked.

“Just like every night,” Eponine replied blandly, “I have to make rent somehow.”

“I suppose we could start meeting there tonight?” Marius asked his friends.

“It’s as good as time as any-”

 

“Wait,” Eponine cut back in, “I make no guarantees, I’m just a lowly bartender, if the manager throws you out, that’s that okay? I don’t want the blame to fall to me-”

“Nothing to worry about,” Combeferre smiled at her, “We’ll stay out of your hair.”

“Good,” Eponine nodded her head, “I still don’t see why you are running this past me…”

“Well would you be interested in joining us?” Combeferre asked.

Eponine snorted with laughter, when she saw that they were all looking at her with rather serious expressions except for Courfeyrac who was smiling, “You were serious… Weren’t you?” _Way to go ‘Ponine, fucking things up once again!_

She coughed slightly, “Well… If you haven’t picked up on it I kinda work nights, so you can pretend I’m there in spirit.”

“You know you might find these informative,” Combeferre adjusted his glasses once again, “Enjolras is basically our leader and we are striving for social change.”

“How nice,” Eponine replied, if she was correct Marius seemed to be looking at her funny… Shit, he knew.

“Well we’ll be there and feel free to listen in,” Combeferre nodded.

“Yeah, sure.” Eponine shrugged.

“We’ll ‘Ponine and I have a standing Tuesday coffee date,” Marius spoke up.

“Standing coffee date?” Courfeyrac grinned, “are you two like secretly dating?” he teased.

“What?!?” Marius stammered, “N-no, we’re just friends.”

“Riiiiiight,” Courfeyrac nodded suggestively, “well we’ll let you two lovebirds be,” he winked.

“Courfeyrac, we aren’t dating,” Marius spoke through gritted teeth, a blush spreading across his face.

“Whatever you say,” Courfeyrac winked, “have fun.” 

Marius put his hand on her shoulder and they started walking towards their favorite coffee shop and once they were out of earshot Marius’ face looked dark, “You are using again.”

“What?!? No I'm not-” Eponine blinked a few times.

“Please ‘Ponine, don’t lie to me,” Marius sighed.

“I’m not,” Eponine shook her head, “what makes you think that-”

“I’m not an idiot,” Marius frowned, “I’ve known you long enough to know what you are like when you are high.”

This wasn’t completely true, Eponine could name several occasions she had been high around Marius and he had been totally unaware, “I’m not high!” she replied defensively, “I swear!”

“I thought you said you were getting clean?” Marius sighed.

“I was- I am!” Eponine felt like she was begging for his forgiveness.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Marius sighed, “I’ll see you tonight.”

Eponine was shocked, was he really that mad at her? “We aren’t getting coffee?”

Marius looked down at the ground and shook his head, “I’ll see you later,” he replied before walking off.

This was one of the things Eponine hated, she could deal with people being angry with her… But the whole “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed” bullshit? It was more than she could handle, especially with it coming from Marius, one of the only people she could really consider as a friend.

Anger welled up inside of Eponine, “I hate you!” she shouted in his direction but he was too far off to have heard her, “I hate you…” she muttered under her breath. She could feel tears welling in her eyes and she sniffled slightly, she looked at the window she stood in front of and took in the image in front of her. She was a mess, even with making herself “presentable” she was still a mess. God, no wonder Marius wouldn’t want to be around her, not exactly the best thing in the world to have your best friend be a junkie… She seriously doubted that the rest of his friends would approve. Wiping the tears from her eyes she started walking back towards her apartment.

“Something happen?”

Eponine turned to see the blonde hair that belonged to Alex Enjolras, ‘Why do you care?” she replied bitterly.

“I’ve never known Marius to be hurtful,” Enjolras approached her.

“Doesn’t matter,” Eponine growled, “now leave me alone, I’m going home before I freeze to death.”

Enjolras said nothing as Eponine walked away, the cold was more biting and unfriendly than before as she walked back to her apartment. She collected the junk mail and newspapers she kept stockpiled and tossed them into the rusty old stove that must have dated back to World War I. It wasn’t much but at least it provided some heat and that was certainly better than nothing. She felt like shit, not just physically but she hated the fact that Marius was not mad… But rather that he was disappointed, which felt so much worse.

“Fuck him,” Eponine grumbled, even in the midst of her high she felt like she was on the verge of depression. Sitting on her sorry excuse for a couch she rubbed her hands together to get them warm and she felt like crying once again. Her life was miserable, that was probably the biggest understatement of the year… Correction, of the decade, maybe even the century. 

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and resulted in her falling asleep on the couch and when she woke again she looked to see the time on the clock… Time management was never her forte, and now if she didn’t get her ass in high gear she was going to be late to work. She still felt a weight in her heart from the way Marius had treated her as she dressed for work. The dress code wasn’t too strict, just as long as you stayed with in the color palette of black, black and more black and you didn’t look like a slut, well you were fine. She fixed her make up which had smeared slightly during her nap, wrapping herself up in her coat she hit the streets once again. 

Eponine had a love hate relationship with winter, she loved that she had an excuse to wear long sleeves without people giving her funny looks, she had to hide the track marks somehow. What she hated was the fact that it meant she was more likely to slip and fall on her ass due to the ice and heels combination and the fact that she had no heat in her apartment. Even with it being somewhat of a dive bar the Musain had a pleasant atmosphere and being halfway between the East Village the NYU campus there was some good tips to be had. But Marius would be there… He’d never gotten mad at her before, well at least not to this extent. Even when he first found out that she was a junkie he’d been concerned more than anything.This was making Eponine nervous, but she had work to do, she didn’t let drugs interfere (well not too much) so why should she let Marius?

“Hello ‘Chetta,” Eponine greeted as she entered and went and deposited her coat in the back.

“Hey girl,” Musichetta replied, but she was too focused with cleaning up the bar before they got the large dinner influx that was bound to happen. 

Eponine popped into the bathroom and checked her appearance, the fluorescent lighting was not doing her any favors, her curly hair looked limp and sad and her skin looked almost waxy, and now her nose was running from her excursion out of doors. “Well standing here isn’t going to make it any better,” she muttered as she backed out and joined Musichetta behind the bar. 

Musichetta stopped what she was doing to look Eponine up and down, “You look like shit,” she replied bluntly, “are you sick?”

“Gee thank’s ‘Chetta,” Eponine glared at the other girl.

“I’m showing you my genuine concern,” ‘Chetta smiled.

“Right,” Eponine replied.

“But you really look like shit,” ‘Chetta continued, “and I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

“Of course you do,” Eponine rolled her eyes.

Within the hour the bar’s business picked up, just as she figured it would, it was a given, as she was coming down from her high she realized that she had mixed up a few orders and she apologized profusely and most of the men proceeded to flirt with her and sweet talk her, “I’m a bartender not a whore,” she replied grimly to the latest one.

The bell over the door ringed and the blonde one, Enjolras entered followed by Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Marius and five more college age men. Marius gave her a brief nod as they sat down and one of waitress approached them and handed them menus. Eponine found herself glancing over at them occasionally as she continued about her duties.

“Hot boys at 2’ oclock,” ‘Chetta whispered in her ear.

Eponine jumped, “‘Chetta!” she hissed.

“What?” the blonde asked innocently, “it’s true.”

Eponine glared at her co-worker, “don’t you have a job to do?”

“You’re no fun,” Musichetta pouted and walked off.

Eponine continued to serve drinks to those who approached her and it seemed likely that their little social justice group was not interested in drinking. Well this was good because it meant that she wasn’t going to have to deal with awkward encounters-

“Do you have any beers that you would recommend?”

She spoke too soon, because now Courfeyrac stood there with another man with curly dark hair.

“Well we have some good selections on tap, if you want to be a cheap trashy college student we’ve got your Flat Tire and your Blue Moon…” Eponine started to list, “what did you have in mind?”

“I’m good with just a Guinness,” The other man nodded at the tap, “and I’ll certainly be having a tab.”

“And you?” Eponine asked Courfeyrac.

“What is that Chocolate Shake Stout?” Courfeyrac asked.

“It’s pretty awesome, tastes like a milkshake,” Eponine replied but there was definitely not any emotions behind her words, she was too tired and run down for this.

“Hey, you’re Pontmercy’s friend!” He declared.

“I am,” Eponine replied, “so do you want that beer?’

“Yeah sure,” Courfeyrac nodded, “so you live near each other.”

“He lives next door,” Eponine replied as she grabbed a glass and filled it with Guinness from the tap, “I’ll go get you yours.” After locating his selected beer she popped it open and poured it into a glass.

“Impressive no foam,” Courfeyrac nodded.

“That’s why I get paid the big bucks,” Eponine replied.

“Really?” Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow.

“Are you kidding?” Eponine scoffed.

“Okay, it was an honest mistake,” Courfeyrac shrugged.

“Don’t you have a meeting to be attending?” Eponine nodded in the direction of the group.

Courfeyrac didn’t say anything more as he and the other man rejoined their friends and their meeting.

“Bitter much?” ‘Chetta approached her once again.

“Jesus Christ!” Eponine swore, “stop sneaking up on me like that!” as if she wasn’t jittery enough without her co-workers trying to pull a sneak attack on her.  
“Well you were just being a bitch,” ‘Chetta shrugged, “not exactly going to get you any tips-”

“I don’t care,” Eponine grumbled.

“Okay…” ‘Chetta frowned, “you know there’s something weird about you tonight,” Eponine through the other girl an icy glare, “don’t pull this shit on me, girl if there is something wrong please talk to me…”

Eponine sighed, “It’s fine.”

And this was how most the night continued, Eponine serving drinks to the patrons and occasionally providing drinks for the students and their group, Marius still wouldn’t talk to her and the resentment in her heart seemed to grow. Within a couple hours they left and it was close to two in the morning when Eponine and the others started to close down and left for the evening. Once she was back to her apartment she didn’t feel like sleeping, she wanted another hit but she was not only mad at Marius but at herself as well. She put a tea kettle on her hot plate and let it boil when it was done she poured the water into a mug and dropped a tea bag into it and waited for it to steep.

“Fuck you Marius fucking Pontmercy,” Eponine muttered under her breath as she rummaged around for her sugar, once that was located she opened the drawer containing her mismatched collection of silverware. She had been right in her observation that morning, nearly every single one of her spoons had scorch marks on them. She didn’t even care any more she simply choose one to stir her tea with and that was that.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been nearly two weeks and Marius still barely acknowledged Eponine, no more casual “good mornings” or “good evenings” to her as they passed each other in the hallway or on the stairs. They didn’t have their usual coffee date again and yet nearly every night for these past two weeks there he was with the rest of his friends at the bar, still ignoring her. She’d had enough of it, and if she really stopped to think about it… She missed him. The one man who had truly been kind to her in practically her entire life, it certainly didn’t hurt that he was attractive. Was this what love was? Eponine had heard that love made you do stupid things, so maybe that was the case. After all why would she go out of her way to wake up early, go to their favorite coffee place and hunt him down on this tuesday afternoon, she hadn’t even taken a hit in almost the last twelve hours… She felt horrible. She’d had some sort of idea where he might be, no matter what she was going to find him, and they were going to talk.

“Hey Pontmercy’s friend!”

Eponine turned to see one of his friends, “Not now,” she replied walking past him quickening her pace.

“If you’re looking for Mar-dog you are going in the wrong direction,” he replied.

Eponine stopped in her tracks, “Oh yeah? What would you know about that?” she asked.

“I know that he has just finished his Ethics class and should be on his way from that building,” Courfeyrac pointed in the distance, “wait here a couple of minutes and he should be strolling right along.”

“Okay…” Eponine slowly walked towards him, “Thanks, I guess.”

 

“You know you seem like a cool girl,” Courfeyrac smiled, “and I’m not just saying that because I’m hoping you’ll give me free drinks.

“That’ll never happen,” Eponine rolled her eyes.

“Figured as much,” Courfeyrac laughed, “now, I couldn’t help but notice that Marius seems to have been ignoring you?”

 

“I would rather not discuss this,” Eponine replied darkly.

“I’m just making an observation,” Courfeyrac shrugged his shoulders.

“Well thanks, but I have already made that exact same observation,” Eponine glared at him, she then saw Marius walk past, “now if you’ll excuse me…” She started walking quickly, “Marius!”

Marius stopped, turned around and sighed when he realized that it was Eponine who was calling out to him.

“Marius…” Eponine blushed slightly, she then held up the cardboard carrier with two coffee cups, “I have a large chai latte extra hot, with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon,” she held out the cup to him, “because you are too much of wimp to handle black coffee.” She was sure she could see a smile spreading across his face.

“And what’s that one?” Marius asked as he took the cup from her.

“Hot chocolate,” Eponine replied almost sheepishly.

Marius let out a laugh, “You are too much,” he then took a sip of his drink.

“Can we talk?” Eponine asked.

“About what?” Marius asked casually.

Eponine bit her lip to prevent herself from getting mad at him, “About…” she tried to think of the best way to word it, “It’s just that… I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Marius smiled.

“Yeah?” Eponine was finally able to look him in the eyes.

“I’m just worried about you,” Marius continued, “and I’m sorry for behaving the way I have… But can’t you see that you are killing yourself?”

Eponine bit at her lower lip again, “I- I…” she stammered embarrassed.

“I care about you ‘Ponine,” Marius added, “I really do, you’ve been a great friend ever since I moved in, you had my back and I want to say that I’ll be there for you too.”

Eponine was touched by the fact that Marius cared that much about her, “Do you mean that? But what about-”

“I was angry,” Marius explained, “I had thought that you were actually clean, I mean you promised me-”

“I know,” Eponine cut him off, “and I’m really sorry but you have no idea what this is like, I’m not proud of what I have done, and I hope you give me another chance…”

Marius raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m going to do it this time,” She nodded her head “I’m gonna get clean I swear it, cross my heart and hope to die.”

 

Marius blinked a couple of times, “Are you… ‘Ponine… That’s great,” he smiled.

“You know it’s already been almost,” Eponine glanced at the cheap watch on her wrist with it’s crumbling band, “a full twelve hours since my last hit, feeling pretty good, I think I can do it this time.”

“Great,” Marius grinned, the wind picked up causing them both to shiver, “why don’t we take this somewhere else so we don’t get frostbite?”

“Lead the way,” Eponine gestured with a flick of her wrist.

**************

By the time Eponine got back to her apartment she wasn’t feeling as great as she had proclaimed to Marius earlier. Her head was pounding and she was starting to feel nauseous, this wasn’t good, not good at all, and she still had work tonight. Sitting on her couch she wasn’t even sure she could drag herself back to her bed, it seemed like it would be disastrous if she tried. It seemed that perhaps she and her couch just might be on the verge of becoming best friends. She started to shiver and felt like she was getting sweaty too. Eponine was familiar with the beginning stages of withdrawal she’d tried to do this twice before but quickly relapsed after, but for some reason this felt different… Actually it felt much worse than anything Eponine had felt before. She closed her eyes willing the pain away but ended up falling asleep instead.

Her eyes opened to an apartment that wasn’t her own, first off it was much bigger, and there was definitely more than one person living there but just as soon as she made her observations the room became twisted and strange. Eponine could hear people screaming and shouting, a gun shot that soon was followed by silence… There was loud knocking followed by someone shouting to open up, they continued to shout and shout-

“Eponine? Are you there?”

Eponine jerked awake and looked around, she had broken out into a sweat while she slept and now her skin was clammy. She tried to get up off the couch and it took some doing but she was finally standing, she tried to take a step forward but found that she couldn’t without her legs shaking, “Door is open…” she at back down with a groan.

Marius opened the door and entered, “Hey, I wanted to see if you wanted to walk to the Musain together-” he stopped when he saw her, “woah, actually I don’t think you should be going anywhere…”

Eponine couldn't even think about any sort of witty response to him, all she could do was groan, “I feel like shit.”

“I can imagine,” Marius sighed as he sat down beside her, “have you called in to take a sick day?”

Eponine shook her head, “I just woke up.”

“You want me to call?” Marius asked.

Eponine slowly nodded her head but it caused everything in front her to spin, this was worse than any sort of flu she had ever experienced.

“Okay, where’s your phone?” Marius got up from the couch.

“Table,” Eponine nodded towards the kitchen space.

Marius went and located her phone and picked it up from the cradle, “What’s the number?”  
Eponine inhaled deeply, “212-646-3218.”

The numbers beeped as Marius dialed and it rang while he waited for someone on the other end to pick up the phone, finally he got a response, “Hello, you have reached the Musain, I’m Musichetta how can I help you?”

“Hi my name is Marius Pontmercy and I’m calling on behalf of Eponine?”

“Oh? Where is she?” Musichetta asked.

“She’s at home but she is really sick right now,” Marius explained.

“Poor thing,” Musichetta sighed, “I thought she didn’t look so good.”

“Yeah, she has some sort of flu and she doesn’t know how long it’s going to be until she get’s better-”

“Oh that’s alright hun, I’ll let the boss know you tell her to rest up okay?” Musichetta cut off.

“Thanks,” Marius replied, “well goodbye.”

“Bye!” There was a click followed by the dial tone Marius hung up the phone and went to rejoin Eponine on the couch, “well that’s taken care of, now I don’t know much about withdrawal-”

 

“That makes two of us,” Eponine laughed weakly.

“Do you want me to go and get you anything? Like I don’t know.... Ny Quil or-”

“I don’t have the flu,” Eponine grumbled, “besides I don’t know if it’s wise to switch from one drug to another…”

“I suppose you might be right…” Marius ran a hand through his hair, “hang on I think I might know someone who can help.”

“What do you mean?” Eponine asked as he jumped up and went for the phone again, “who are you calling now?”

“Combeferre,” Marius replied as he picked up the phone, “he’s in medical school right now and he’s done a quite a bit of work in homeless shelters and working with addicts-”

“Wait… No please don’t!” Eponine protested, she remembered Combeferre, “I don’t want anyone to know…” her voice drifted off.

“But he could help you,” Marius slowly lowered the phone, “what if I didn’t mention your name?”

“Because you would just be calling out of the blue about heroin withdrawal? He’s in medical school he’s more than smart enough to put two and two together and get four-”

“Eponine relax,” Marius shook his head slightly, “I’m doing this for you-”

“How would your friends like knowing that I’m a heroin addict?” Eponine whined.

“Ex-addict,” Marius corrected, “remember you are going to get clean, and you know what? If they do know, who cares? Let them.”

Eponine couldn’t think of anything else to counter with so she sighed and sunk back into the couch, “Fine call him, just don’t turn me into a the poster child for whatever your social justice campaign is.”

Marius paused after picking up the phone again, “What do you mean?”

“College boys help recovering addict see the light!” Eponine declared albeit weakly, “I can see it on the front page of the Times now.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” Marius let out a laugh as he dialed Combeferre’s number, “Hello? Ferre, are you busy?”

All Eponine could do was sit there and listen to Marius’ side of the conversation, he meant well but she was sure those guys would never look at her the same way again. Very few people knew about Eponine’s addiction… Really it was just her, her dealer and Marius and he’d found out by accident after seeing her make an exchange with her dealer on the street. He’d questioned her and pestered her about what he’d seen until finally she gave up and gave in.

“Yeah she started…” Marius looked over at Eponine and put his hand over the mouthpiece, “when did you start?”

“I haven’t taken a hit since yesterday afternoon,” Eponine replied.

“Yesterday afternoon,” Marius repeated to Combeferre, “okay… Okay… That should help? I think we can do that… Okay, thank’s ‘Ferre,” he hung up the phone, “well according to Combeferre apparently cold and flu medication might actually help you out here you think you’ll be fine alone while I go and get some for you?”

“You don’t have to do that,” Eponine protested and started to stand back up again, “I can go myself-”

“Oh no you don’t,” Marius walked over to her quickly and had her sit back down, “I’ll go.”

“Why are you doing this for me?” Eponine asked.

“Because I care about you,” Marius sighed, “you’re my best friend, and that is why I’m going to get you some cold and flu-”

 

“How am I going to pay you back?” Eponine asked.

“Once you’re well buy me coffee again and we’ll call it even okay?” Marius grinned, “now don’t get into trouble while I’m gone.”

“Yes mother,” Eponine replied with a groan.

With that Marius departed and the door slammed shut behind him leaving Eponine alone again, she was feeling the tiniest bit better but she didn’t know if it was because some of her symptoms might be going away or if it was something else. The last time anyone had taken care of her like this was when she had been just a child, she didn’t think she could have been more than seven years old. She had been sent home from school with a stomach virus so her mother picked her up, put her to bed and set up the TV and VCR in her room with her favorite princess movies.

Now Marius was out running to get medicine for her and it made a small tear come to her eye, she blamed it on the fact that in her current state she was most definitely emotionally compromised but she felt a flutter of adoration in her heart.

Okay so she’d had a bit of a crush on Marius ever since she first met him but today it seemed her feelings were changing, they were… Deeper? Eponine couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she was starting to get the sense that maybe, just maybe he felt the same way about her.

Marius returned within a half and hour and he was certainly carrying a lot more than just flu and cold medicine. During that time Eponine had found that she could stand and move about her flat it just took quite a bit of effort, she had exchanged her clothing for her favorite pair of flannel pants and a longsleeved shirt and her duvet was wrapped around her, “What did you do? Buy out the entire Rite Aid?” she stared at him in shock.

“Nearly,” Marius laughed.

“How is one cup of coffee supposed to pay for all that?” She asked looking at all the bags.

“I”m sure with sales tax it should come out even,” Marius teased.

Eponine rolled her eyes, “What all did you get?”

“Ummm… Well I wasn’t too sure so I got a few different type of flu medicine, orange juice, soup…” Marius looked in the bag, “other stuff to stock your rather bare cupboard-”

“I don’t even have a cupboard,” Eponine replied. 

“Exactly,” Marius smiled as he handed her the various options of flu medicine, “pick your poison.”

Eponine gravitated for the NyQuil and proceeded to pour for herself the recommend dose, he nose crinkled at the smell, she tossed it back and she cringed, “Nope, no worries on me getting addicted to this… It’s nasty…” she coughed.

“Glad to here it,” Marius laughed, “I’ll make you soup.”

“I’m not a baby I can do it myself,” Eponine replied as she set down the bottle.

“I’m here to help you,” Marius replied rather firmly.

“You’ve done more than enough,” Eponine sighed.

“No, I want to make up for all the times I wasn’t here to help you last time,” Marius finally explained.

“Oh,” Eponine felt her face get warm, and not just because she was a touch feverish.

“Please just let me,” Marius smiled.

“Oh alright…” She sighed, “go ahead make soup.”

“You won’t regret it,” Marius replied with a laugh.

“We’ll you’re no Chef Boyardi so I don’t have high hopes,” She replied as she settled back down into the couch, “so you aren’t going to your meeting tonight?”

“Obviously,” Marius replied, “what part of ‘I’m going to help you get through this’ don’t you understand?”

“Yeah, but your whole life shouldn't come to a grinding halt because of me and my poor life choices,” Eponine’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“It’s not, I’ll help you out when I can,” Marius explained as he began to heat up water in a pot on her hot plate, “this has certainly seen better days.”

“Hey, don’t diss the hot plate!” Eponine called out, “me and that hot plate have had some good times together.”

“Right,” Marius replied with a laugh.

Eponine didn’t reply, she just pulled the duvet up over her and let out a sigh of relief. Okay so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all, she still felt like she was taking advantage of Marius even though it was clear he was going to insist that she wasn’t. At this point it didn’t matter, she’d had a bad couple of days and something in her told her that it was only going to get worse before it got better.

**********

“‘Ponine you awake?” There was a knock at her bedroom door.

“I wasn’t…” Eponine groaned, “but now that you’re here- Oh just come on in.”

Marius opened the door, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Eponine slowly sat up.

“How are you feeling today?” Marius asked as he sat beside her.

“Still like the living dead,” Eponine replied as she pushed her hair from her face, “It’s not pleasant, that’s for sure.”

“Well you’re only on day three,” Marius smiled.

“How is that supposed to make me feel better?” Eponine glared at him.

“I’m trying,” Marius shrugged.

“Well try harder,” Eponine slowly closed her eyes once again.

“Need me to get anything else for you?” Marius asked.

“Nope, still have half of Duane Reade in my bathroom, but thanks for the offer,” Eponine replied as she glanced at him, “don’t you have class to go to?”

“Later, I just wanted to check and make sure you still had a pulse,” Marius smiled.

“How thoughtful,” Eponine narrowed her gaze.

“Well I’ve checked your vitals and I guess I’ll just be on my-”

“Wait!” Eponine spoke up, her voice still tired, “I want to thank you, really… I don’t think that I could do this without you.”

Marius smiled, “Don’t you worry, we’ll get through this, okay?”

When he left Eponine let out a sigh of relief, perhaps she could start getting used to the whole Marius taking care of her thing afterall. The rest of her week passed at an agonizingly slow pace that was coupled with some of her previous symptoms returning with a particularly nasty vengeance. What was even worse was the fact that she was fighting the urge to use again, it was a strong and persistent urge that would come and go, so Eponine found herself disposing of all of her spoons, clearing out any of the syringes she’d had still lying about. All of it was gone, which when the urges flared up made her all the more agitated, she was sure that if she actually had the energy to walk more than 20 steps without feeling like she was going to pass out that she would find her dealer and she would relapse. But she didn’t want that, even though it had only been about a week Eponine was starting realize that heroin was not a path she ever wanted to go down again. It had stolen nearly three years of her life and that was more than enough.

During this week she and Marius had started to fall into a sort of routine, he would stop by whenever he could, see how she was doing, and every other night he would offer to make her dinner… How could she say no to that?

“Hey don’t your friends miss having you around?” Eponine asked as she slurped at her bowl of hot and sour soup. Tonight they had opted for chinese because it seemed that Eponine was finally starting to be able to keep her food down when she ate. 

“A few meetings isn’t that bad,” Marius shrugged his shoulders as he picked at his Kung Pao, “besides it’s not like we have meetings every night-”

“That’s not what ‘Chetta says when she calls,” Eponine replied before enjoying another spoonful of soup, “says they're there every night, she would know… She has her eye on a couple of them.”

Marius chuckled, “Uh oh, do I need to warn anyone?”

Eponine shook head, “Nope, she doesn’t know their names, all is good.”

 

“Although Courfeyrac does have his eye on her,” Marius smirked.

“Really?” Eponine cocked her head, “which one is he?”

“The one with the curly hair-”

“Marius, at least two of your friends have curly hair-”

“The annoying flirty one? Surely he was probably flirting with you at the bar?”

Eponine tried to recall, “Oh yeah... Why is he interested in ‘Chetta?”

“She’s pretty,” Marius shrugged.

“Note to self, don’t let him get too close-”

“Courf is a nice guy,” Marius replied, “really he is… Just a touch overwhelming sometimes, but overall a pretty nice guy.”

Eponine raised and eyebrow, “You sure?” she was recalling when she briefly saw him when she had accosted Marius at NYU.

“‘Ponine, I know you can trust him,” Marius nodded his head, “maybe once you’re up and about again you two can be properly introduced.”

Eponine smiled slightly, “I’d like that, maybe I’ll actually meet all of your friends.” She carefully balanced her soup bowl in the crook of her crossed legs, “hoping to be back in about a week,” she spoke hopefully.

“A week?” Marius’ eyes widened, “you sure that you’ll be-”

“A week,” Eponine declared, “or might go crazy sitting here all day long with nothing to do except eat, sleep and read ridiculously out of date magazines, like did you know just last week Marliyn Monroe got married to Joe Dimaggio?”

“‘Ponine…” Marius rolled his eyes.

“I’m losing my mind just sitting here,” Eponine pulled her knees up to her chest.

“But are you sure,” Marius knit his brow together, “I mean I know it feels like a bad case of the flu but-”

“Trust me on this,” Eponine smiled, “okay?”

“I guess…” Marius sighed.

“Besides, you’ll be there to keep an eye on me and make sure that I’m behaving all nice and proper,” she teased.

Marius rolled his eyes, “I’m not your babysitter.”

 

“Oh darn, guess I won’t be paying you fifteen dollars an hour,” Eponine giggled.

“Could you even afford to do that?” Marius asked.

Eponine snorted, “Are you crazy? Who do you think I am? The Queen of England? Fifty cents is my limit and even that is pushing it.”

Marius shook his head, “Ha, ha… Very funny.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eponine struggles with keeping her secret, but does it push others away or simply bring them closer?

As promised Eponine was getting ready to be back at work a week later, after getting out of the shower she caught sight of her reflection in the old and slightly cracked mirror. She hadn’t looked at herself in a long while and was somewhat surprised with what she saw. She still felt like a mess, there were the remains of dark circles under her eyes, but she looked more human and less like the ghost she was used to seeing in the mirror. She shrugged and simply went on with getting ready and applying her makeup, once dressed she gave herself a once over… She was already quite thin but apparently over the course of the last two weeks she had lost more weight and her clothing was not fitting as well as they once did. Well there wasn’t anything she could do about that now she thought to herself as she grabbed her coat and went to go to work.

She walked in the relatively empty bar and dropped off her coat and went to join Musichetta at the bar, “Hey,” she called casually to the blonde.

“Hey,” Musichetta didn’t acknowledge her at first, “Eponine? You’re back!” she squealed and flung her arms around her. When they broke apart Musichetta frowned, “you are the absolute worst at giving hugs, you’re like a bundle of twigs, I thought I was going to break you!”

Eponine rolled her eyes as ‘Chetta’s comment.

“God you look like hell,” Musichetta frowned, “are you sure you’ve gotten over that flu of yours?”

“Yes,” Eponine nodded resolutely.

“Really?” ‘Chetta raised an eyebrow.

“Yes ‘Chetta, I’m sure,” Eponine nodded her head.

“Okay,” ‘Chetta sighed, “well if you’re sure then let’s get you to work!”

The night started out fine, Eponine was able to mix drinks like she was supposed to but she certainly didn’t have the flair or witty tongue that she was usually known for. But she felt like she was barely holding herself together, maybe jumping on board again like this had not been the best idea…

Then right on cue Marius and the rest of his friends entered the bar, except Courfeyrac had his arm around a girl with a short, blonde bob and he took her to the bar.

“What can I get you?” Eponine approached them.

“You’re back,” Courfeyrac smiled at her, “I’ll take a Guinness.”

“Wow you are so skinny-”

Eponine looked to see that it was the blonde who had made that comment and she became very self conscious of her figure.

“I wish that I could lose five more pounds,” the girl pouted.

Eponine’s jaw would have dropped if she hadn’t been watching herself, “excuse me?”

“How did you do it?” the girl asked.

Eponine was mortified but she was determined to stand her ground, “Heroin withdrawal,” she replied bluntly. She saw Courfeyrac’s eyes went wide as he he looked at her with concern.

“Is that like a juice cleanse?” the girl asked.

“I’ll be right back with your beer,” Eponine replied darkly as she stormed off to the back to get his drink. She lingered for longer than necessary after she found it, so it was not really a surprise when Musichetta was soon in the back with her.

“Hey, what the hell just happened out there?” Musichetta frowned and put her hands on her hips.

“That little fluffball,” Eponine pouted, “the one that Courfeyrac guy brought along…”

“Oh her?” Musichetta sighed, “you snapped at her… And if I heard corrently it sounded like you said something about heroin withdrawal?”

“It’s not important,” Eponine shrugged.

“Right,” Musichetta rolled her eyes and put her arm out to keep Eponine from leaving, “‘Ponine, what’s going on? Something isn’t right-”

“Nothing has ever been right now leave me alone!” Eponine yanked her arm away.

“This is a serious thing,” Musichetta knit her brows together, “are you using drugs?”

“No!” Eponine snapped, even thought this was the first time in her life she was able to answer that question truthfully it certainly didn’t make her feel very good at this point in time, “And since when do you care? It’s not like we’ve ever really been friends-”

Musichetta turned away, “I’m just trying to help you.”

“Well I don’t need your help!” Eponine snapped.

Musichetta fell silent for a moment, “Fine,” she muttered before walking away.

Eponine let out a sigh, guilt was slowly surrounding her… She’d been rash, acted too quickly, her emotions had been running high as of late and clearly she did not know how to deal with it just yet. Hurting Musichetta’s feelings like that had never been her attention, Eponine never liked hurting people but if they got in her way like that… Well they all just started to look like casualties of her ire. Quickly she got up to go and apologize to her co-worker although she doubted it would be accepted. She knew that she had created a deep well of animosity and surely knowing what she knew now Musichetta was going to have some questions. So much for keeping her addiction between her and Marius.

“‘Chetta, wait!” Eponine managed to stop her.

“Yes?” Musichetta turned around.

“I’m sorry,” Eponine replied sighing deeply.

“It’s gonna take a lot more than that missy,” Musichetta crossed her arms across her chest.

Eponine sighed, “I know… Buy you a drink?”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Musichetta mused.

It had been difficult for Eponine to continue the rest of the evening as if nothing had happened between her and ‘Chetta so when it came time for them to lock the door and shut off the light she let out a sigh of relief. They were the only ones left at this point, the drawers had been counted, deposits made, floors and bar tops cleaned and so it left the two young women in awkward silence.

“So what about that drink you owe me?” Musichetta asked.

“Now?” Eponine raised an eyebrow.

“Well they always say there is no time like the present, sat herself at the bar.

“Okay,” Eponine replied nervously, “what would you like?”

“Surprise me,” ‘Chetta replied as she leaned on her elbows, “and start talking.”

Eponine bit at her lip,”About what?” she asked quietly.

“You know exactly what,” Musichetta replied, “spill-”

“I…” Eponine froze, “just give me a moment,” she went and grabbed a drink for Musichetta as well as herself only briefly pondering that it might not be a good idea for her to do so. But she was going to need all the help she could get she decided.

“You gonna keep me waiting?” Musichetta continued and pointed at the seat next to her.

“Oh god I don’t even know where to start,” Eponine groaned as she sank into the seat.

“The beginning is always good,” Musichetta replied.

Eponine glared at her before sighing, “You don’t understand I have barely even told Marius-”

“Who?” Musichetta asked.

“Marius… Come on you know who he is don’t you?” Eponine cocked her head.

“Is he one of those guys or something?” Musichetta asked.

“Yeah,” Eponine replied, “he’s my best friend… And he has been helping me get through this-” she admitted.

“So are you saying that you are using drugs?” Musichetta struggled to suppress a gasp.

“Was,” Eponine corrected, “I was using drugs, I’m not anymore.”

“Is that why you’ve been out until now?”

Eponine nodded her head, “You cannot tell a soul, do you understand?” When she made eye contact with Musichetta she could only see concern on her face.

“I didn’t know..”  
“That’s the point,” Eponine scoffed, “No one knew, and I had wanted to keep it that way-”

“Well if if you go around blurting things out like you did tonight,” Musichetta replied, “that isn’t really going to work.”

“I know that,” Eponine sighed, “she just made me so mad! She was a complete idiot, if that is Courfeyrac’s taste in women then I may have to rethink the judgements I have made about his character.”

“He was probably with her because she’s hot,” Musichetta replied.

“‘Chetta?”

“I’m just saying,” Musichetta shrugged, “and I’m probably right and you know it,”

With that both girls began to laugh, and Eponine was starting to realize that maybe it was was possible for her and Musichetta to become friends, lately her life had begun to seem a little brighter, althought anything was an improvement over the hand she had been dealt. Still it made her happy and maybe, just maybe she could have a normal life like she wished for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little short but four is already in the works!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time that Eponine meet the gang... Sort of?

January had some how quickly become March causing Eponine to wonder just where had all the time gone. Although this meant nothing as far as the weather, sure the snow was mostly gone but the skies were still grey and the rain never stopped. This was something she found herself complaining a lot about to Marius.

“It never ends!” Eponine whined as a loud crack of thunder overhead broke and what had been a light sprinkle was turning into a huge downpour.

“Well it wouldn’t be so bad if you thought about investing in an umbrella, they’re all the rage on 5th Avenue I’ve heard,” Marius teased, “here,” he held out his own and she slipped under it as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“Thanks,” Eponine smiled as they continued to walk watching other New Yorker’s flee the weather.

“What kind of friend would I be if I let you catch a cold,” Marius laughed.

“A really shitty one who I probably would never speak to again,” Eponine replied bluntly, “now remind me why we have to do this again?”

“I think that it’s about time you were properly introduced to my friends,” Marius replied.

“But I have been,” Eponine groaned, “there is that one… Courfeyrac? The blonde guy, the glasses-”

“Oh I’m sure that Enjolras and Combeferre will really love to know you call them ‘the blonde guy’ and ‘the glasses’,” Marius smirked.

“Yet even with those vague descriptions you knew who I was talking about,”Eponine replied pointedly.

“It was a wild guess-”

“Right…” Eponine winked.

“Like you even remembered their names,” Marius rolled his eyes.

“I remembered them!” Eponine replied.

“Really?” Marius knit his brows together.

“Yeah, when you said them just now!” she grinned.

Marius let out a sigh, “You are ridiculous.”

“And that is why you love me,” Eponine turned to him and batted her eyes.

Marius shook his head in response and they walked in silence for about a quarter of a block, “You know you look nice today, you should wear your hair like that more often,” he commented.

Eponine felt her cheeks grow warm, she had never been one to spend any significant amount of time on her appearance. Mostly because she judged that there wasn’t much too look at. Today she had pulled it up into some sort of a half-pony mostly to keep stray bits from getting stuck in her lipgloss (a common occurrence). Thinking back Eponine was pretty sure that this was the first time that Marius had ever complimented her in terms of her looks. Those pesky feelings in her gut were stirred up again and she felt her face get even redder. She was glad that they finally made it to the bar and she ducked inside quickly and took some deep breaths while Marius was distracted by shaking the rain off of his umbrella so he wouldn’t leave a damp trail inside.

“‘Ponine what are you doing here?” Musichetta called out from behind the bar, “isn’t it you’re day off?”

“He dragged me,” Eponine gestured toward Marius. Musichetta’s eyes sparkled with delight and amidst drink pouring she came to a halt and dashed over in their direction. 

“Finally!” Musichetta exclaimed,” I was sick and tired of watching you from behind the bar! You’re Marius right?”

“The one and only,” Eponine muttered under her breath.

“Yes, and you’re Musichetta right?” Marius replied.

“Oh good after coming here for the last three months you finally decided to learn her name,” Eponine grinned.

“You still haven’t explained just what you are doing here on your day off,” Musichetta put her hands on her hips.

“I have to meet the parents,” Eponine replied.

Musichetta looked at her with confusion, “If this is some kind of joke I don’t get it.”

“I’m trying to introduce ‘Ponine to my friends,” Marius explained, “why she is so reluctant I don’t know-”

“By friends I’m gonna guess that you are talking about the lovechild of N’Sync and the Backstreet Boys that occupy that table nearly every night?” Musichetta asked pointing at the table which was already filled.

Eponine struggled to suppress her giggle, she didn’t know what was funnier. Marius’ reaction? Or the fact that Musichetta had called those guys a boy band…

“If that’s what you want to call them-”

“I only call out what I see,” Musichetta replied innocently, “anyway, would love to chat but gotta go water the heard,” she nodded back towards the bar, “see ya!”

“Well she certainly is interesting,” Marius muttered.

“Don’t mind ‘Chetta, she has no filter,” Eponine explained, but she didn’t get a chance to say much else before she was overwhelmed by the cluster of men.

“Well look who finally decided to join us, and he brought a lady friend!”

Without even needing to look Eponine was sure that comment had come from the one called Courfeyrac.

“Seriously, you brought the bartender?” 

Eponine looked around and and saw a broad shouldered man with what looked like tattoos running down as arms and possibly across his neck? 

“Sorry Miss, I don’t mean to be rude but I’m confused,” the man replied apologetically.

“Well since you’ve asked,” Marius smiled, “guys this is ‘Ponine, she lives next door to me and is my best friend, ‘Ponine these are my friends-”

Courfeyrac was the first to arise as he grabbed her hand and kissed the back, “Milady, why be in the company of such a dork when you could be with me?”

“I already know you, and you too,” Eponine nodded towards the man who frequently made use of the bar, “R something or other?”

“Grantaire, but close enough,” the man chuckled and pushed back his dark curly hair, never in her whole life had she seen eyes that blue.

“This is Enjolras and Combeferre, remember the blonde and the glasses?” Marius teased and a couple of the guys smiled.

Eponine glared at Marius, “You weren’t supposed to tell them that!”

“You already seem very well acquainted with Courfeyrac,” Marius continued, “this is Jehan, Feuilly and Bahorel-”

There were so many names Eponine wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to keep them straight, but this was what Marius wanted so she would do her best.

“Laigle, more commonly known as Bossuet, and Joly,” Marius finished.

Eponine blinked a few times, “There is no way I’m gonna remember all that.” Behind her she heard someone clear their throat, she turned to see the blonde god called Enjolras that looked like he had just walked out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but instead of sporting a toga he was wearing and red zip up sweater, jeans and a tee-shirt. Eponine sank into the empty seat beside Marius unsure of what else she should be doing.

“What’s going on?” She whispered.

“Enjolras just trying to get everyone quiet so that we can start the meeting,” Marius replied.

Eponine turned to watch him, and while she didn’t fully comprehend what he was saying she felt as if she was caught in a trance watching 

"'Ponine you okay?"

Eponine shook her head and let out a sigh.

"Don't worry he has that effect on everyone," Grantaire leaned back and whispered to her.

Eponine folded her arms across her chest as Enjolras winded down on his speech and soon turned into a debate.

"Everywhere you go there doing some sort of construction down there," Feuilly interjected, "when there done everything is modern and sleek-"

"Marius you live in the East Village, right?” Joly spoke up, “I’ve heard there has been a lot of redevelopment there and it’s been forcing many who live there to move out.”

"They say it's all a part of cleaning up the city," another interjected before Marius could answer.

Eponine just wanted to sink into the background, she really didn't care about what they were talking about. She knew in a way that it would affect her but what did these guys thing they could do against the big bad government and investors with money. They were the ones who really ran the city, this was no secret. That was the only way you could thrive in this city, otherwise most people she knew were barely scraping by going paycheck to paycheck, much like she was doing. 

It was late when they finally called the meeting to a close, the rain had stopped as Marius and Eponine walked back.

"What did you think?"

Eponine just shrugged her shoulders, "There was a lot to take in," she admitted, "are they always so up in arms about social justice and crap like that?"

"That is the purpose of the group," Marius replied.

"Doesn't really seem like you're kind of crowd," Eponine pointed out.

"I'm allowed to have opinions," Marius laughed.

"I know that," Eponine rolled her eyes, "but you see like the last guy on earth to be taking part in a picket line or something like that."

"I'm not gonna lie Courfeyrac dragged me into it," Marius replied.

"And another thing... About Courfeyrac-"

"Yes?" Marius raised an eyebrow.

"Why and how," Eponine replied.

"Why and how, what?" Marius asked.

"Just him... He's a nice guy but how the hell did you meet that he dragged you into this?" Eponine asked.

"We met my first year at NYU, we were roommates," Marius explained.

"Back before the old goat kicked you out?" Eponine asked.

"Don't call my grandfather an old goat," Marius smirked.

"Well he is,” Eponine replied.

“You’ve never met him-”

“You’ve told me enough about him so that I am able to draw my own conclusions,” Eponine decided.

“Whatever, come on let’s just go home,” Marius smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

The day after her introduction to Marius friends Eponine was back at the bar for work, "My day off was tainted by coming here," she muttered as she went to go and set her things down in the back. 

"Oh boo hoo," Musichetta laughed as she pulled her dirty blonde hair into a messy ponytail at the back of her head, "it couldn't have been that bad."

"You only say that because you have eyes on the guys," Eponine grumbled.

"I've narrowed down my list," Musichetta grinned.

"Really? How many are you crushing on now?" Eponine asked cocking her head.

"Let's see," Musichetta turned pensive and looked as if she were to be doing a complicated math equation then naming off the guys she liked, "I think I'm down to two."

"Bravo," Eponine replied and clapped her hands together slowly to make a point.

"Come on don't you find even one of them attractive?" Musichetta asked.

"I guess I haven't really thought about it," Eponine shrugged, there was no way that she was going to admit to liking Marius... Not to 'Chetta, nor anyone for that matter. Besides it probably was a sill passing thing that she would get over. Or at least that was what she had hoped, screwing up their friendship was the last thing that she could have wanted. Eponine then went to go and make sure the bar was ready and clean, even though she knew that it wasn't going to stay in that condition for more than an hour it did make her feel better to start out with a clean slate, at least that was how she liked to think of it. Once making sure there was plenty of liquor, and that the taps were up and running she set about the grueling process of cleaning the glasses.

“Hey ‘Ponine, you're gonna wear a whole right through that if you aren't careful."

Eponine looked up and realized she had been polishing the glass in her hand for the last fifteen minutes or so, slowly she put it down quickly as she felt her face get warm, “What?”

“We’ve got a new girl,” ‘Chetta nodded to where Johnny one of the servers was walking around talking to a girl with short, red, wavy hair.

“Funny didn’t know we were hiring,” Eponine mused.

“Well by the looks of it I think she’s already got the job,” ‘Chetta whispered to her, “either that or Johnny is trying to put moves on her.”

“I’d put my money on the latter,” Eponine replied.

“You so sure about that?” Musichetta raised an eyebrow.

“Well I think we are about to find out because look who is headed our way,” Eponine nodded in Johnny’s direction as he steered the girl in their direction.

“Hello ladies, how are you this fine evening?” Johnny leaned up against the bar..

“Fine Johnny, just fine,” Musichetta smiled at him forcefully.

“Good I’m glad to hear it,” Johnny smiled, “so I want to introduce you to our new waitress, today is her first day so be nice to her,” he pushed her closer to the bar, “this is Zelda.”

“How romantic!” Musichetta gushed, “like Zelda Fitzgerald?”

“I guess,” Zelda muttered quietly.

“Now Zelda don’t be shy,” Johnny teased, “anyway Zel’ these two are our bartenders this is Musichetta and this is Eponine-”

Zelda’s eyes seemed to widen when he mentioned Eponine’s name she noticed, it was odd… She was sure she would have remembered if she had met a girl named Zelda, it is a rather peculiar and old fashioned name… Not that her own was much better.

“Now don’t worry about ‘Ponine too much, most of the time her bark is worse than her bite-”

“Will you stop planting those thoughts into people’s heads?” Eponine glared at Johnny.

“See what I mean?” He smirked.

“Just you wait,” Eponine intensified her gaze, “I will get you one day.”

“Which is why I will never order a drink from you.”

“Don’t you have something you should be doing? Like teaching Zelda here how to do her job, preferably better that you do?” Eponine put her hands on her hips, she could hear Zelda letting out a laugh.

Johnny looked as if her might say something but he quickly stopped himself, “Come on Zelda, she’s right we have some more training to do before the night goes into full swing.”

Eponine smiled as she watched Johnny lead Zelda off, Musichetta was doing the same but was watching a little bit more intently.

“Yes?”

“You don’t happen to have like a long lost relative or something?” Musichetta asked.

Eponine paused, “Where is this coming from?” 

“I dunno,” Musichetta shrugged, “it just seems that you and Zelda sort of looked alike.”

Eponine hadn’t noticed that, besides that was too outlandish and crazy, and sure her name was only a couple letters off… No, too crazy, even for New York.

“Not possible, my family doesn’t live here and everyone can be accounted for and there is no one named Zelda,” Eponine replied.

“Oh,” Musichetta sighed, “well maybe it’s like some really weird doppelganger sort of thing.”

“I’m not ginger.”

“I know that,” Musichetta sighed, “you know what I mean.”

“Well I don’t think we look alike so I’m afraid that I don’t,” Eponine replied.

“Well I’ll show you, you have the same color of eyes-”

“Brown, how exciting!” Eponine declared in a sarcastic tone.

“‘I just don’t understand how you can’t see it,” Musichetta shook her head, “you’re blind you know that right?”

Being blind wasn’t the problem, Eponine had long given up on finding her siblings many years ago. When she was younger this was what she had dreamed off but during such an extended absence she had lost hope. To the point that she never told anyone that she had a younger sister and brother. For all anyone (even Marius) knew she was just Eponine Thenardier, and she was a loner with no family. It simply became easier that way.

The bar filled up quickly as it did each night, and Eponine could hardly get a glimpse of Zelda as she dashed about taking orders and bringing out food to the guests. Even as the bar started to clear out she still scarcely saw her. As she grabbed her coat to make her way out for the night she had hoped to talk to her even for a moment. But she found that the new waitress was nowhere in sight, “Must have taken off,” Eponine muttered before heading out herself. Twelve years was a long time to go without seeing anyone from your family, how was she supposed to know what her sister might look like after all this time? She had been only eight years old when this all had happened and she had been stuck in foster care, a lot can happen during that time.


	6. Chapter 6

"I won't go," Eponine sat down firmly on her couch with her arms folded across her chest.

"Stop being so stubborn," Marius sighed, "is it really that bad?"

"You dragged me once, frankly I would rather not spend my time off in that bar!" Eponine complained.

"Please?" Marius gave her a pleading look.

"No, I won't do it," Eponine shook her head, "leave me to enjoy my take out in peace."

"Please 'Ponine?" Marius began to pout.

Eponine was trying hard not to look at him knowing that the moment she did she was gone. He always had that effect on her but she wasn't going to let him win, at least not this time. Except that she could feel his gaze going straight through her, slowly she turned to face him. When their eyes met Eponine knew that she was sunk, "I hate you."

Marius clapped his hands together, "Yes!" He jumped up to his feet, "so you ready to head out?"

“Need my coat, then we can go,” Eponine got up from the couch, “but let it be known that there is no way in hell you’ll ever be this lucky to get me come with you ever again.”

“You say that now,” Marius smiled.

“I say that now because I know that it’s true,” Eponine shot back putting on her coat.

“Whatever, let’s go or we’ll be late,” Marius laughed.

“You mean to tell me these meetings actually have a set starting time?” Eponine raised her brow.

“Of course they do,” Marius replied.

“Well then clearly you’re ‘set start time’ is a little more of a suggestion,” Eponine smirked.

“Knock it off,” Marius shook his head.  
\----------

Despite their chatter and banter as they walked they got to the bar just as Enjolras and Combeferre were walking up.

“And obviously we are not late,” Eponine noted, “we are right on time at… She glanced down at her cheap five dollar watch, “7:36.”

Marius shook his head, “Why do I even bother.”

“You didn’t have to invite… Coerce me,” Eponine folded her arms across her chest, “I could just go home-”

“And just for that I won’t let you,” Marius grabbed her shoulder and steered her inside towards the already full table. Eponine squeezed herself between Marius and Courfeyrac just as a the server came over, and it was Zelda.

Zelda, the one who she had begun to notice looked quite a bit like her yet Eponine kept telling herself that it couldn’t possibly be her. It was just way too good to be true.

“Can I get you guys something to eat?” Zelda asked, as she turned to face Feuilly who was sitting across the table from Eponine’s vantage point she noticed the back of Zelda’s neck. Which should have been completely unremarkable as most necks are, except for one small detail. 

The heart shaped birthmark just below her ear, if Eponine had any doubts they were blown away in that moment, the years of braiding that long red hair had made her very well acquainted with that birthmark.

“Well I didn’t expect to see you here,” Zelda turned to look at Eponine.

“Nah,” Eponine shook her head trying her best to remain calm, “I’m good, just here for moral support and all that stuff…”

“Okay,” Zelda shrugged and finished taking their orders.

Now it wasn’t like Eponine had any intention on paying attention to the boys and their meeting but she was completely distracted by well… Other things. Namely their server, the questions were mounting every minute that they sat there until-

“I’m gonna to the bathroom,” Eponine whispered to Marius, “be back in a sec.”

Before Marius had a chance to reply Eponine was hastily walking away knowing the door to the bathroom was conveniently located next to the kitchen. She stood there by the door knowing Zelda would need to walk past. Eponine impatiently tapped her foot, and began to wring her hands glancing down at the still very visible marks and scarring on her arms that would forever be a reminder as to what she had done. What would Zelda think? Well if she was who Eponine thought she was.

Zelda then breezed through the door with a tray in hand.

“Zelda!”

Zelda spun around, “Uhh… What are you doing?”

“We really need to talk,” Eponine began.

“I have tables to serve,” Zelda replied sharply. 

“Look I get that, but we really need to talk,” Eponine started again.

“You know let me bring this food out, then we can talk okay?” Zelda pulled away, “I kinda really need this job.”

This was a feeling Eponine understood but she was itching to talk to Zelda, still she let her walk past and few minutes later she returned with an empty tray, “Okay, what do you want?” 

“I don’t know how to say this,” Eponine swallowed.

“I swear to god if you say you have a crush on me, I’m sorry but you’re not my type,” Zelda wrinkled her nose. 

“No that is not what I was going to say!” Eponine shook her head, “I just wanted to say I think you’re my sister.”

Zelda laughed, “Okay you’re crazy.”

“No I’m not, I know that birthmark,” Eponine continued, “I know it was a long time ago, but ‘Zelma don’t you remember me?”

At that Zelda stiffened, “How do you know that name?”

“‘Zelma it’s me… It’s ‘Ponine, god I thought I would never see you again but here you are,” Eponine laughed, she couldn’t help but feel tears beginning to prick at her eyes. 

The shocked look on Zelda’s face began to fade and she began to smile, “So it’s really you?”

 

Eponine nodded her head, “Yeah it is, crazy right.”

“So crazy,” Zelda bit her lip, “can I hug you?”

Instead of waiting for a response Eponine went to hug Zelda tightly.

“Okay you know we’ll chat,” Zelda laughed, “when I’m not working, but don’t you think you should go back to your friends?”

“Still hesitate to call most of them my friends,” Eponine sighed, “to be honest I barely know them.”

“Tell me about it tomorrow over coffee?” Zelda asked.

“There is a great place three blocks from here,” Eponine nodded excitedly.

“Sounds great,” Zelda smiled, “how about eleven?”

“Eleven is good,” Eponine replied, she then grabbed Zelda’s notepad from her apron, “this is the name of the place, see you there,” she then slipped back to the table feeling giddy and happier than she’d felt in a long time. 

“You okay?” Marius whispered, “you were in there for awhile.”

Eponine had almost forgotten that she had told Marius that she was in the bathroom during that whole time, whoops.

“Yep all is good,” Eponine whispered back.  
\----------  
Eponine briskly walked to the coffee shop and the bell rang as she entered and found Zelda already sitting there with a coffee and bagel, “Hey.”

“Oh hey,” Zelda smiled, “sorry I was starving.”

“I don’t care,” Eponine shrugged.

“I still can’t get over how crazy this is,” Zelda laughed before taking a sip of coffee.

“Me neither,” Eponine glanced at the menu, “but before we get to into it I must ask… Zelda Byers? Where the hell did that come from?”

“Well when I was ten I got adopted,” Zelda replied, “and not only did I get a new last name… I decide I wanted a new first name too.”

“Okay,” Eponine giggled.

“I was ten!” Zelda replied defensively, “and Zelda sounded cool,” she shrugged and took a bite of bagel.

“You do you,” Eponine smiled, “but I must ask, what should I call you? You want me to stick with Zelda or can I call you Azelma?”

“You know,” Zelda put down her bagel, “maybe I’ve been Zelda for long enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have decided to pick this fic back up again... Thanks to Bri618 for the comment that got me working on this again.

**Author's Note:**

> Those who are familiar with the original work. This is very different. It is more focused on Eponine's life after she gets clean.


End file.
